The latest avalanches come just weeks after eight snowmobilers died elsewhere in British Columbia.

In each cases, survivors had to make the agonising decision to abandon their own rescue attempts to get help.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Const. Craig Douglass said on Sunday two of three riders covered by tons of snow were able to free themselves, but the third person is believed to be dead.

About an hour before the Chetwynd avalanche, another rumbled down Mara Mountain near Enderby in the province's interior, leaving one of three snowmobilers missing. -- AP